Gateshead Council fined for health and safety breach after tree-feller injured by train

Gateshead Council were fined £40,000 plus costs after a worker was badly injured while felling trees next to a train line

The 11.22am train service from Newcastle to Carlisle which ploughed into a tree which had fallen on the line between Wylam and Ryton

A council has been fined £40,000 after a worker was badly injured when a train ploughed into a tree he was helping to fell.

Peter Wood was left with a shattered ankle and other injuries when a train travelling at 39mph careered into a tree he was trying to clear from railway tracks

A court heard the tree had accidentally toppled onto the line between Wylam, Northumberland and Ryton, Gateshead, as Mr Wood and his boss Mark Connelly chopped it down.

Mr Wood was trying to help Connelly clear it from the line when the train came along and crashed into it.

Connelly, who had been contracted by Gateshead Council to fell two large poplar trees next to the tracks near the Tyne’s Boathouse Crossing, pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety rules by not using a winch.

The local authority were also at Newcastle Crown Court after they admitted failing to make proper checks on the contractor.

Fining Gateshead Council £40,000 plus £5,854 costs, a judge said he bore in mind the financial penalty would, in effect, have to be paid by taxpayers.

Recorder Henry Prosser, who said the council had not deliberately shirked their responsibilities, said: “I bear in mind any fine I impose on the council has to be met by those pay various forms of tax to the council.

The fallen tree which was hit by a train 2 miles east of Wylam Station

“The council exists to provide services to people in the Gateshead area and any fine may mean the council can provide fewer services.”

The accident happened as Connelly and Mr Wood were felling the 25 metre trees, in January 2012.

The court heard Connelly, 41, of Calders Crescent, Fatfield, Washington, was not qualified to fell a tree so thick and had failed to provide a winch that would catch it.

The experienced tree surgeon, who had carried out more than 80 jobs for the council, believed the tree would fall uphill.

But, to the two men’s horror, the tree toppled down onto the line taking with it the second tree.

Connelly attempted to cut away the wood to make the line safe for oncoming trains. Moments later, Mr Wood began to help and it was then that the 11.22am service from Newcastle to Carlisle ploughed into the tree.

Mr Wood was left with a broken ankle and significant bruising to a leg, an arm and his head.

As he was unconscious he could not remember if he had been hit by the train or the fallen wood.

David Bunce, Gateshead Council’s strategic director for community based services, appeared in court on behalf of the council, whick admitted failing to make proper checks on the contractor.

Connelly admitted breaching health and safety by failing to provide a winch. He was given a community order with 150 hours of unpaid work and must pay £5,854 costs.

His legal team said it was not clear the tree was rotten inside and Connelly could not tell how it would fall.

Connelly was qualified to fell trees 100mm thinner than the poplar but was not aware he was not certified to complete the work. He claimed it was an ‘honest mistake’.

Connelly still employs Mr Wood, who was not asked to come to the aid of Connelly that day but did so of his own accord.

The council had worked with Connelly many times without issue and since the incident has reviewed its processes.

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